Chapter 9: Looking Back

Gu Liuguang said to the System: 【I now believe Zhang Xibai’s character setting is a gloomy female ghost. She’s way too persistent.】

The System hesitated: 【But that character setting is aimed at the female lead. It feels like she’s using it on the wrong person.】

The car was extremely quiet. After waiting a long time with no response, Zhang Xibai spoke again.

“Not even replying anymore?”

Her tone was somewhat lazy, like the leisurely mood of strolling in the back garden. Her gaze traveled through the rearview mirror toward Gu Liuguang, and their eyes met in the mirror.

Gu Liuguang silently reached for the car door.

With a “click,” Zhang Xibai locked the door and started the car.

Gu Liuguang sat in the back seat and wasn’t particularly afraid yet. The atmosphere didn’t carry the oppressive feeling from that night. Her mind was still sharp, and she knew the plot hadn’t fully unfolded yet—villainous cannon fodder characters couldn’t be taken offline this early.

But plots were unpredictable things, so she pretended to be scared. Her voice was soft and timid: “Teacher, don’t talk to me.”

Zhang Xibai spoke idly, as if teasing a little girl: “I just want to talk to you.”

Gu Liuguang cursed up a storm inwardly. She gripped her phone tightly, her face timid but her words bold: “If you keep this up, I’m going to give you a bad review…”

Zhang Xibai: ……

Zhang Xibai fell silent for a moment. She looked at Gu Liuguang through the rearview mirror and was just about to speak when Gu Liuguang interrupted her:

“Teacher, drive properly. Don’t keep looking at me.”

Zhang Xibai withdrew her gaze and drove in silence.

Gu Liuguang realized the route was wrong. She said, seemingly panicked but actually calm: “This isn’t the way to my house.”

Zhang Xibai’s tone was a bit muffled, almost aggrieved: “I invited you to dinner, but you never come. I got off work early today—my treat.”

Gu Liuguang acted like she hadn’t heard. Her fingertip tapped the screen, and her tone betrayed irrepressible smugness: “Zhang Xibai, if you don’t take me home, I’m calling the police.”

She shook her phone screen, which displayed the ride-hailing app with a prominent one-tap alarm button.

A message from Lin Zhenshuang popped up at that moment—

【Lin Zhenshuang: Where’s Baby?】

Zhang Xibai’s face darkened at the sight of “Baby.” She instinctively reached for Gu Liuguang’s phone. Gu Liuguang quickly pulled it back, her eyes wary: “What are you doing?”

Zhang Xibai came back to her senses and withdrew her hand: “Someone calls you Baby.”

“Your ex? Didn’t delete her from WeChat?”

Gu Liuguang had reset her WeChat once before. Her new account hadn’t added many unfamiliar people, and only a few called her Baby. She looked down at WeChat and saw it was from Lin Zhenshuang.

She replied offhandedly, then couldn’t resist saying to the System: 【I feel like I’m getting better with Lin Zhenshuang.】

Before the System could ask why, she continued on her own: 【In the past, if she didn’t transfer me money, I wouldn’t have replied.】

She glanced at Zhang Xibai. As Lin Shixia’s friend, Zhang Xibai was pretty important. It was necessary to maintain her reputation in front of her.

She said casually: “That’s my sister.”

Zhang Xibai let out a cold “oh,” unsure if she believed it: “Really? I haven’t heard you mention your family before.”

Gu Liuguang hummed in acknowledgment and said nothing more. She fiddled with her phone, her fox-like eyes wide open.

Zhang Xibai’s gaze darkened slightly. Her cool, glamorous face took on an even more aloof air. Before long, she couldn’t resist bringing up a few topics, but Gu Liuguang ignored them all. When she got annoyed, Gu Liuguang would grip her phone and threaten to hit the one-tap alarm.

The car finally reached the destination.

Gu Liuguang unbuckled her seatbelt and tugged at the door twice, but it wouldn’t open. She said bluntly to Zhang Xibai: “Zhang Xibai, open the door.”

Zhang Xibai pursed her lips. With her eyes lowered, she looked somewhat pitiful: “Won’t you invite me up for a sit?”

Gu Liuguang eyed Zhang Xibai suspiciously. It should have been a pitiable appearance, but she inexplicably felt a twinge of fear. She pressed herself tighter against the door and flashed her phone screen at Zhang Xibai.

Zhang Xibai didn’t move. Instead, she unbuckled her own seatbelt: “Gu Liuguang…”

Gu Liuguang immediately pressed the one-tap alarm. Unexpectedly, a confirmation prompt popped up. Just as she was about to tap it, the door unlocked.

She bolted home without looking back.

【Zhang Xibai is really off! Just like a female ghost in the literal sense.】

That drooping gaze and obsessive stare made Gu Liuguang feel like she was about to be captured by Zhang Xibai.

The System nodded vigorously: 【Try to avoid being alone with her for the next few days. I’ll file a report upstairs and see what the Main God Lord says.】

Gu Liuguang breathed a sigh of relief: 【If Zhang Xibai causes the mission to fail, you won’t deduct my points, right?】

The System: 【I’ll include that issue in the report. The rest depends on the process.】

After getting home, Gu Liuguang was still a bit shaken. She wanted to talk to someone, but there was no one she could really confide in.

Her family would only worry and couldn’t help.

Lin Zhenshuang would just tell her not to go to work.

……

After agonizing over it for a bit, Gu Liuguang decided to play a couple of games first.

Lin Zhenshuang was offline, so Gu Liuguang lost three in a row. She was so frustrated she nearly uninstalled the game when a team invite popped up. She recognized it as Su Tian.

The game showed it as “recently played together.”

It was probably some weird new feature from the update. Normally, Gu Liuguang wouldn’t even glance at it, but she was on tilt and desperate to win a few. She recalled that Su Tian was pretty good, so she accepted.

As soon as she entered the team, Su Tian’s voice rang out: “Liuguang, why weren’t you online yesterday? Add me back first.”

Gu Liuguang huffed twice: “Carry me to a couple wins first.”

They played a few games following Su Tian—almost all wins. Su Tian even yielded red and blue buffs to her and chased down the enemy.

After the enemy’s nexus exploded in another game, Su Tian asked: “Liuguang, between me and your CP, who’s better?”

Liuguang didn’t even think: “Of course my CP is better.”

Lin Zhenshuang had been flamed before but never lost.

Su Tian got mad, but she got over it quickly and huffed: “She’s probably not good-looking. Why are you with her? If you bind CP with me, I won’t get jealous no matter who you play games with…”

Gu Liuguang had some impression of Su Tian—a cool girl who loved riding motorcycles. She was cute and pretty, with big eyes and dimples when she smiled. She had lots of ear piercings and shiny earrings.

Seeing Gu Liuguang staring at her mouth, Su Tian stuck out her tongue to show her. It was a tongue piercing, and she asked if it looked good.

Then she said something lewd: “Liuguang, want to try kissing someone with a tongue piercing?”

Later on, Gu Liuguang really had no money and didn’t want to go out anymore. She’d explored a lot of places in A City and realized it wasn’t as prosperous as she’d imagined—just a near-first-tier city.

Eventually, she deleted and blocked Su Tian.

Gu Liuguang hit start match and said ruthlessly: “No.”

Su Tian got mad again: “Why! What’s so good about her? I can tell from her voice she’s a green tea bitch.”

Gu Liuguang frowned: “Don’t understand.”

Su Tian grumbled: “Anyway, that’s what it means… Have you met her in person? She might be ugly.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Gu Liuguang canceled the match.

Su Tian thought Gu Liuguang was mad and was just about to ask “What’s wrong?” when Gu Liuguang said to her:

“My Baby’s online. Let’s play next time.”

Su Tian was kicked from the team at lightspeed.

Gu Liuguang had just booted her when Lin Zhenshuang’s invite popped up. As soon as she joined the team, she heard Lin Zhenshuang ask with a smile in her voice: “Were you just teaming up with someone?”

Lin Zhenshuang had already checked Gu Liuguang’s match history and knew exactly who it was.

Gu Liuguang was unaware and just hummed, with no intention of explaining: “Let’s go.”

She spotted Su Tian’s private message asking her to add WeChat.

Not wanting Su Tian to pester her too much, Gu Liuguang sent her new WeChat ID. As soon as she did, Su Tian urged her to accept.

She switched to WeChat and approved it. Lin Zhenshuang said: “Not inviting that person along?”

Gu Liuguang hesitated: “She’ll argue with you.”

Lin Zhenshuang laughed. Her laughter was pleasant and tingling.

After selecting heroes, Lin Zhenshuang told Gu Liuguang to change her skill to teleport: “When we go in, follow me and tp straight to bot lane.”

Gu Liuguang was puzzled but did as Lin Zhenshuang said and switched to teleport.

The game loaded and began. Lin Zhenshuang and Gu Liuguang both teleported straight to bot lane.

Gu Liuguang had planned to wait for the minion wave to reach the collision point, but Lin Zhenshuang called over voice chat for her to invade the enemy blue zone together.

Lin Zhenshuang used to counterjungle every game, but after Gu Liuguang complained a few times about pushing bot lane, she switched to normal laning and invading the enemy jungle later.

It had been a long time since Gu Liuguang had followed Lin Zhenshuang to counterjungle at the start. Coincidentally, the enemy jungler started on blue buff, and the three of them ran into each other in the jungle.

Gu Liuguang was extremely tense. The three-way fight was intense, and the enemy was about to get reinforcements soon.

In the end, Lin Zhenshuang took the blue buff and escaped the enemy jungle on silk blood with her.

The two recalled to buy health potions.

Gu Liuguang’s fingers trembled from the tension: “That was too scary…”

Lin Zhenshuang laughed too and asked: “Feeling better now?”

Gu Liuguang froze. She wanted to ask how Lin Zhenshuang knew, but in the end, she just hummed.

Gu Liuguang liked playing games with Lin Zhenshuang because she didn’t talk much, wasn’t overbearing, was gentle and considerate, and often sent her money to buy things.

If there were no missions, Gu Liuguang really wouldn’t want to break up with Lin Zhenshuang.

As she thought about it, Lin Zhenshuang said to her: “Baby, there’s a gift coming in a few days that needs your personal signature.”

Lin Zhenshuang often sent her things, which she usually picked up from the parcel locker herself. This was the first time she’d said it required personal receipt. Unable to contain her curiosity: “What is it?”

Lin Zhenshuang smiled: “It won’t be a surprise if I tell you.”

For the sake of that surprise, Gu Liuguang held back from asking more.

……

Over the next few days, whether going to the company or heading home, Gu Liuguang had Lin Zhenshuang call her a ride. She never ended up in the dance teacher’s car again.

When idle at home, Gu Liuguang practiced dancing. It wasn’t particularly pretty, but it reached passing level.

Zhang Xibai had no chance to make her stay late. Gu Liuguang guarded against her tightly—vanishing the moment practice ended, saying fewer than three sentences a day. For the first time, Zhang Xibai felt insecure about her own looks.

On the last day of practice, as it neared the end of work hours, she stood behind Gu Liuguang. With one glance down, she saw Lin Shixia on Gu Liuguang’s phone wallpaper.

Finally unable to hold back, Zhang Xibai called out to Gu Liuguang. With a cold face and lowered gaze, she looked at her: “You like Lin Shixia?”

Gu Liuguang pretended not to hear and grabbed her phone to slip away.

Zhang Xibai frowned and raised her voice toward Gu Liuguang’s back: “I can help you get Lin Shixia’s autograph.”

Gu Liuguang showed no reaction and was about to leave the practice room.

Zhang Xibai took a deep breath: “Don’t you want to meet Lin Shixia? We’re friends.”

Gu Liuguang turned back.

A spark of delight suddenly rose in Zhang Xibai’s heart. She thought, Gu Liuguang was really hard to coax.